NSFRE sets new attendance mark.

The annual conference of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives hit a milestone in Los Angeles recently. Registrations passed more than 3,800, and for the first time the meeting took place in a convention center, not a hotel. The number of exhibitors totaled 153. "Big" appears to be the

All this fund-raising power will be needed if development executives are to overcome the problems that confront them. In the Maurice G. Gurin Lecture, Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain from the University of Chicago, warned fund raisers that they are in a "danger zone" with regard to stewardship and trust. Dr. Elshtain, author of "Democracy on Trial," said Americans' "trust in neighbors is low. They have a resume of discontent, with mistrust and cynicism rampant and participation in sharp decline."

Elshtain noted that in 1960, 60 percent of the population trusted social institutions; today that percentage has dropped to 37.5 percent. "Where neighborhoods are intact and social bonds secure, family breakdowns are less frequent and so are unparented children, out-of-wedlock births and violence," Dr. Elshtain said.

When asked whether the nation is on the right track or the wrong track, the answer people overwhelmingly give is "the wrong track," she said. "We now have the politics of resentment. People are worried about violence, education of their children and jobs."

Dr. Elshtain said the U.S. needs robust, demographic debate, courageous leadership and respect for authority. "In the 1960's there was a breakdown of respect for legitimate authority. But democracy is an unpredictable enterprise. Freedom and responsibility must go together," she concluded.

In a session on world demographics, author/lecturer Judith E. Nichols, said the fact that "the world is changing is not negotiable, it's inevitable." She noted that fund raisers have four options to deal with change:

1. Ignore it and risk death;

2. Study trends and adjust to them;

3. Anticipate events and move first;

4. Lead and make things happen.

As proof that many non-profits have opted to ignore change, Nichols pointed to the number of mergers among non-profits and the rising number of small non-profits going out of business. As the population lives longer and increases in diversity, fund raisers must change with it. "We have to redefine major donors, concentrate on affluence rather than wealth, cumulative giving rather than major gifts, and planned gifts and bequests rather than sacrificial gifts," said Nichols.